A forensic accountant has told the High Court at Auckland the spending of a woman accused of murdering her children and hiding their bodies in suitcases skyrocketed after her husband's death.
Hakyung Lee faces two charges of murder over the deaths of her children Yuna and Minu Jo in 2018.
The bodies of Minu Jo and Yuna Jo, aged six and eight at the time of their deaths, were discovered in suitcases almost four years after they were killed, when a family bought the contents of an abandoned storage locker in an online auction.
Lee's standby counsel argued she was insane at the time following a "descent into madness" that began with the death of her husband Ian Jo from cancer in 2017.
The Crown, however, argued Lee's actions after the deaths of her children - including hiring a storage unit, moving the bodies, changing her name and fleeing to Korea - showed she knew what she was doing, and knew it was wrong.
In court on Monday morning, forensic accountant Andrew Yoon told jurors he had gone through the couple's bank accounts.
He said Lee's total credit card spending went up by 1397% after her husband's death, from about $800 a month in the roughly 10 months leading up to his passing to $11,992 a month in the eight months after, excluding funeral costs.
"From the credit cards, they have purchased a lot of international flights and 5 star hotels overseas, and lots of expenses and shopping overseas, that was observed."
Lee took her children and mother to the Gold Coast in Australia shortly after her husband's death, where her mother took notice of her expensive spending.
Yoon was asked by Crown Prosecutor Jay Tausi about the travel expenses before this holiday and Jo's death, between January and November 2017.
There was $4071 spent, which included flights Ian Jo took to South Korea, Yoon said.
Jurors heard earlier that Jo had gone to Korea for medical treatment, but came back after it was unsuccessful.
Yoon calculated after Jo's passing, Lee spent $33,593 - more than $4000 a month - on holidays and travel alone.
Tausi and Yoon went through payments made by Lee to Safe Store, where the children's bodies were kept until their discovery in 2022.
Lee paid a total of $16,330 to Safe Store between July 2018 and April 2022, Yoon said.
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